Bucks v Beds
This coming Sun, Mon & Tues Bucks commence their Minor Counties Eastern Division programme with a match v Bedfordshire.
The game takes place at Tring Park Cricket Club - a very picturesque ground with good facilities which is also near Tring town centre and next to Tring Brewery.
Minor Counties cricket is hugely underrated and can provide excellent entertainment without music following every over. The game is scheduled for 11am-7pm each day. Highly recommended - even more so if the weather is good!
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I saw two of the Bucks three dayers last season, at HW and Chesham, enjoyed them so much I became a Bucks CCC member this season. I plan to be there for all three days, the weather forecast is low 20s on all three days. There is nothing nicer then sitting on the boundary rope, in the sun in your camping chair, watching a good game of cricket. Remember your Panama hat on Sunday!
Tring Park is a lovely ground although strangely in Herts! Not sure why Bucks use it. The clubhouse is very good and they will be doing food for the public on Monday and Tuesday, but not Sunday. The bar is open to all, on all three days, it has a TV so you can probably watch the footy on Sunday lunchtime. The car park gets full quickly, a good place to park is in Station Road next to the ground, they may even open up the adjoining field for parking.
And not a drop of rain in sight. With light winds, the sun at its strongest and temperatures in the sun much higher than the mid-high twenties shade temperatures forecast, maximum protection will be needed to prevent sunburn/sunstroke. Not wishing to be alarmist. Just speaking from personal experience of the very unpleasant effects of over-exposure.
Enjoy the cricket! ????
All power to minor counties cricket though BlueBoy and I were both at Trent Bridge yesterday and witnessed England's World Record 481 innings. I'm usually irritated by the music at ODIs but the batting was so enthralling I didn't even notice it until halfway through the innings.
At close on day one at Tring Park, Beds are 59-0 off 19 overs, in reply to Bucks' 383-6 off their allotted 90 overs, Garry Park 166 (highest score for Bucks), Michael Payne 123 n.o. After a very slow start by Bucks, the run rate rapidly increased as those two put on 279, a record for Bucks in the Championship. About a maximum of 150 here today, swelled at lunchtime by the footy in the bar.
Day two close, Beds 7-1 in second innings after Bucks bowled them out for 181 after lunch. Bucks declined to enforce the follow-on and were themselves bowled out for 195 in their second innings. Beds are 391 behind so presumably Bucks are confident of bowling them out tomorrow, because they didn't put their foot down to get an earlier declaration.
A dramatic win by 84 runs for Bucks on the Final day, their first in the Championship since 2015. Chasing 397 to win, Beds were bowled out for 313 with four balls of the match remaining.
Bucks had reasonably expected to bowl them out with plenty of time to spare but a quite superb 159 from captain Andy Reynoldson almost got them an unexpected draw. He was out first ball of the final over and the final wicket fell the next ball, both to spinner Matthew Rance who finished with 7-103 off 38.2 overs.
The next home game is at Chesham CC on 22, 23 and 24 July, against reigning champions Lincs. Should be good.
The finish was nothing compared to what happened to High Wycombe CC on Sunday, at Peterborough Town CC in the National Club Championship. Standing at 186-3 and needing three runs to win off the final two overs, Wycombe lost seven wickets for just one run, to lose the match by one run:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/44613032